Have you ever tried to bargain with God? If you do this for me, if you give me this healing, I will sacrifice something for you, do something that I think you will like. It doesn’t work.

When I worked in the European Commission one of the most tense times was when the annual promotion list was being published. The competition to get on the list and so rise up a grade was intense. 

When a society turns its back on the true God, the reality is very different from the one envisaged by John Lennon and the optimists of the 1960s. Hosea lived that reality and describes it to us in this chapter.

When God wanted to buy us back from our slavery to sin and wrongdoing, it took much more than money - it took the most precious thing that he could ever find, the blood of his own Son. 

If you are worried that you have committed a sin that cannot be forgiven, read this chapter and see how great is the Lord’s love for the human race; open yourself to him, so that you can receive that love.

Over 2,500 years ago the Lord used Hosea’s tangled family life to predict that he would adopt Gentiles - you and me included - into his chosen family.

The Lord Jesus wishes us all to experience much more of his love and his power. But before that can happen, we need to enter into the fellowship of his sufferings. 

Please join with me on a voyage of discovery into the book of Hosea, into the heart of God, into the depths of his love, and into his dealings with a world which has turned its back on him.

Muslim population is projected to increase by 73 percent and make up 30 percent of the world’s population. Christians would make up 31 percent.

Christianity is the most persecuted religion: in 102 of the 198 countries included in a Pew Research study, Christians face restrictions and hostility because of their faith.

How do Protestants differ from non-Protestants in their behaviour? Are their communities more democratic, horizontal or concerned by their neighbours? Do they have less corruption and abuse?

In this second article I am focusing on the growth of Pentecostalism and the so called prosperity gospel. 

According to a report by Pew Reasearch, the Catholic Church has suffered considerable losses following a move by its members to Evangelical churches.

Almost 20% of Latin Americans identified themselves as Evangelicals. Catholic Church has lost members through religious switching.